Smith surpassed Mathew Hayden to become the quickest Aussie to complete 10000 runs in International cricket.

Australia skipper Steve Smith, who has made a habit of breaking records and achieving milestones, crossed the 10,000-run mark in international cricket during the third day’s play in the ongoing first Test against South Africa at Kingsmead, Durban on Saturday (March 3).

Owing to this landmark, Smith set up two different records. The 28-year-old not only became the fastest Australian batsman to accomplish the feat but also is the third batsman out of the 80 that have scored 10,000 runs or more to boast an average of over 50.

During the course of his steady 38 in the second innings, Smith surpassed Mathew Hayden to become the quickest Aussie to complete 10000 runs in International cricket. While Smith took 232 innings to reach the milestone, Hayden had taken 239 innings to achieve the same. On the whole, West Indian batting great Vivian Richards is leading the chart having amassed the total in 206 innings, followed by Proteas batting giant Hashim Amla (217 innings).

Among the 3 batsmen who possess the average of over 50 with more than 10,000 international runs to their name, India skipper Virat Kohli is leading the chart. While Kohli has scored 17,125 runs from 365 innings at an average of 55.60, England captain Joe Root has made 10,770 runs from 241 innings at an average of 50.80.

As far as Smith’s international numbers are concerned – the right-hander has scored 6151 runs in 113 Tests innings besides making 3431 runs in 94 ODI innings and 431 in 25 T20Is innings.

Steve Smith has been doing wonders in the longest format of cricket for quite some time now, but during the last Ashes series Down Under, he took his game to a different level altogether. Smith had amassed 687 runs in 7 innings at an incredible average of 137.40, including three centuries and two fifties in Ashes 2017-18, that the Aussies won by 4-0.

Smith, who has scored 1754 runs at an average of 67.46 across all formats in the last season, was named ICC Test Cricketer of the Year in January 2018. The Aussie skipper was also bestowed with the Allan Border Medal last month. The New South Wales-born Smith is the only batsman in contemporary cricket to average over 60 in Test cricket. His batting average of 63.41 is second only to Bradman in terms of batsmen with at least 20 Test innings.